Far Country, a — Complete eBook

Into my remembrance, by what suggestion I know not,
came that March evening when I had gone to Holder
Chapel at Harvard to listen to a preacher, a personality
whose fame and influence had since spread throughout
the land. Some dim fear had possessed me then.
I recalled vividly the man, and the face of Hermann
Krebs as I drew back from the doorway....

When I awoke my disquieting, retrospective mood had
disappeared, and yet there clung to me, minus the
sanction of fear or reward or revealed truth, a certain
determination to behave, on this day at least, more
like a father and a husband: to make an effort
to enter into the spirit of the festival, and see
what happened. I dressed in cheerful haste, took
the sapphire pendant from its velvet box, tiptoed
into the still silent schoolroom and hung it on the
tree, flooding on the electric light that set the
tinsel and globes ablaze. No sooner had I done
this than I heard the patter of feet in the hallway,
and a high-pitched voice—­Biddy’s
—­crying out:—­“It’s
Santa Claus!”

Maude was close behind them. She gave an exclamation
of delighted surprise when she saw me, and then stood
gazing with shining eyes at the children, especially
at Biddy, who stood dazzled by the glory of the constellation
confronting her.... Matthew, too, wished to prolong
the moment of mystery. It was the practical Moreton
who cried:—­“Let’s see what
we’ve got!”

The assault and the sacking began. I couldn’t
help thinking as I watched them of my own wildly riotous,
Christmas-morning sensations, when all the gifts had
worn the aura of the supernatural; but the arrival
of these toys was looked upon by my children as a
part of the natural order of the universe. At
Maude’s suggestion the night before we had placed
my presents, pieces de resistance, at a distance from
the tree, in the hope that they would not be spied
at once, that they would be in some sort a climax.
It was Matthew who first perceived the ship, and identified
it, by the card, as his property. To him it was
clearly wonderful, but no miracle. He did not
cry out, or call the attention of the others to it,
but stood with his feet apart, examining it, his first
remark being a query as to why it didn’t fly
the American flag. It’s ensign was British.
Then Moreton saw the locomotive, was told that it was
his, and took possession of it violently. Why
wasn’t there more track? Wouldn’t
I get more track? I explained that it would go
by steam, and he began unscrewing the cap on the little
boiler until he was distracted by the man-of-war,
and with natural acquisitiveness started to take possession
of that. Biddy was bewildered by the doll, which
Maude had taken up and was holding in her lap.